Menace in Mexico City
by Soulfulbard
Summary: Following the events of What Grows in Deception, the Titans are off to Mexico for a vacation! Nothing but fun times ahead, right? Except Robin has ulterior motives for the trip and along the way, the team finds themselves at odds with the likes of Miss Martian, Blue Beetle and Cassandra Cain.
1. Prologue: Midnight in Mexico

**Disclaimer:** This is a fan work created at no profit and for entertainment purposes only. The author acknowledges that Teen Titans and related characters are property of Warner Entertainment.

**A/N: **Mayhem in Mexico City follows my previous fic, What Grows in Deception, but my intent is to write it in such a way that you don't have to read or reread that story to enjoy this one. Everything you need to know will come up in the narrative. Enjoy!

**Teen Titans: Menace in Mexico City**

**Chapter 0 – Prologue: Midnight in Mexico**

The dark of the night always made her feel oddly at home. Maybe it shouldn't have been surprising, since she'd been raised from a tender age to be an assassin, but her memories of her childhood were anything but happy or comforting.

But still, there was something about moving freely, unseen and unheard, that made her feel safer than any home or hearth she'd ever been offered.

Cassandra Cain was Batgirl. Not the first to hold that _nom de guerre_ and probably not the last, but it was an identity she was proud of, one that she felt fit her better than the one she was born into. That was probably why she got on so well with Batman; in her short time under his tutelage, it was clear to her that he felt the same way about his dual identities. Tim said it wasn't healthy. He didn't understand. He said he did, but he couldn't.

Tonight she was on Bat-family business and far from home. Not just far from home, but illegally on the other side of the US border in a town called Altar in the Mexican state of Sonora. Someone had been stealing from WayneTech warehouses on either side of the border and best intel said the one she was approaching would be next.

Batman himself would be here; he saw WayneTech's dangerous toys as his personal responsibility, but the word on Gotham's streets was that the Scarecrow was working with Two-Face on something big. They were all hands on deck in the scramble to derail the plot before it could be set in motion and Cassandra volunteered to go check out the thefts and report her findings.

So far, it was simple and straightforward: after watching the guards' routines, she jumped the fence near the south entrance of the warehouse lot and hid between cargo containers until the guards came and passed again.

From her hiding place, she watched them intently. Her father hadn't raised her to be anything but a killing machine. One of the side effects of this was that instead of learning to speak or write, she learned to read body language. And she was very, very good at it.

Even at a distance and peeking from around a corner, she could read the slump of their shoulders, the restless weaving in their strides. These men had been working this shift for far longer than they should have been and it was taking a toll on their morale and attentiveness. All they cared about was that shift was almost over and then they would be able to go home, get their aching feet out of those shoes and rest.

In their current state, someone with a quarter of Cassandra's skill could have gotten past them. Good thing someone else was watching the warehouse that night.

Detaching from the cover of the container, she made for the wall of the warehouse. Normally, she eschewed all of the gadgets Batman insisted they carry, but the sheer face of the warehouse offered no handholds at all, so she fished out a long-range batarang and sufficient cord to reach the roof. The standard issue grappling pistol was so noisy that she cringed at the very idea of using it in anything but an emergency. She might as well cover herself with bells to get the same effect.

It took two tosses of the batarang to get a solid hold of something on the roof and after that, she climbed up as quickly as possible.

Once there, however, she instantly knew something was wrong. The night was warm and breezy, and yet, on the roof, the air felt still, dead. Like something was blocking the wind despite the roof being almost perfectly flat except for the skylights.

She looked up. It was hard to see against the backdrop of the night sky, by the former assassin was nothing if not observant. In a patch of sky in front of and above her, the starts were blurred, their twinkling slow and out of synch.

It wasn't the first time she'd come into contact with cloaking technology before; even the Batwing had a limited cloak, but this was extraordinarily good. Better than she knew existed on Earth.

There was a quiet hum and a compartment appeared in the air, right in the center of the thing's underside. Faint red light spilled out before a body interposed itself between Cassandra's sight and the opening. The figure was a green girl in some sort of schoolgirl costume. So very likely, whatever it was floating up there wasn't from Earth at all.

The green girl levitated out of the hole in the air, which closed behind her. With her back to Cassandra, she started toward the skylight.

Cassandra had heard of the Martian Manhunter and knew he worked with Batman and the Justice League. As far as she'd heard though, he was the last of his people, the Green Martians. Still, that would explain the technology on display.

Whoever it was, the fact that they had powers made her extra cautious. Silently, she crept the rest of the way onto the roof and stalked toward the green girl's exposed back. If she was a Martian, she might be telepathic like the Manhunter, and that meant surprise was more important than ever.

Closer and closer. She moved with more grace than a jungle cat, her muscles and reflexes working in tandem to make sure that every step fell perfectly so as not to make a sound. Ahead of her, the would-be thief leaned over the skylight, surveying the layout of the floor below.

At the last minute, the girl gasped and whirled to face Cassandra, eyes glowing emerald.

The action made Cassandra stagger. What had she done wrong? How had she been detected? There was no time to figure it out now; she had a fight on her hand. Wordlessly, she launched herself at the criminal, seeking to end the fight with a single, swift blow to the head.

"!," she gaped as the possible Martian turned aside, allowing the punch to sail right past. She only telegraphed the move less than a second before doing it. It took a second swing and a second miss to realize what was happening: First, the Martian wasn't physically moving her body, but levitating herself out of the way, severely limiting the number of muscle groups whose movement would allow Cassandra's special skill to predict what she would do. And second and more disturbing, she was reading her mind.

As with everything, Batman had a set of advice for when it came time to physically engage psychics: rely on instinct instead of thought. Not as simple to do as it was to recall, but no one became a member of the Batman's inner circle by quitting when things got difficult. She let go of her highly analytical fighting style and did the first thing that came to mind, lashing out with a forward snap kick.

The Martian saw it coming, but almost not fast enough. She retreated straight backward, forgetting that the skylight was there. The edge of it clipped her knees and she fell back, sprawling against the glass.

Cassandra was on her instantly, fist raised to end the fight. Except looking down, she read the girl's body language and faltered. "..."

Blinding agony hit her from behind, an electrical jolt that ran through her entire body and made her last few moments of consciousness a blur of pain and confusion. Hen she passed out on top of the Martian.

"Whoa." Said a voice from above. A male figure in a suit of form-fitting blue and black carapace came to land near the two prone women. A set of translucent, blue dragonfly wings fluttered on his back and a pair of slick, black horns rose from his shoulders. On his right hand was a thick gauntlet that extended out over his hand in two black prongs that still emitted the occasional spark and puff of ozone. "I hope you didn't over do it, bug-suit."

A voice replied in a bizarre, alien dialect from the suit itself.

"Yeah, well she better be." the young man inside the suit said. "You okay, M'gnn?"

The Martian, actually M'gnn M'orzz; AKA Miss Martian, levitated the unconscious girl off her, laying her gently on hr back nearby. "Just a few bruises. Thanks, Jamie... er, Blue Beetle. Remember, we're supposed to use codenames while we're out."

But Jamie Reyes, the third bearer of the name Blue Beetle wasn't paying attention. His focus was entirely on the person lying on the roof. "Um.. Meg? We got a problem here. Do you have any idea who we just zapped?" He didn't wait for her reply. "Batgirl. THE Batgirl. Okay, okay _a_ Batgirl, the one with the weird mask with the mouth stitched closed, but still! We are in so much trouble now! Like, 'if I was someone else, I wouldn't even want to stand near us' kind of trouble."

Miss Martian quickly got up and put a finger to his lips. "Jaime? Jaime. You need to clam down." Her mental powers went to work on him, smoothing out the fear and panic. He relaxed, almost leaning into her. "That's better. How about I take her to the bioship to make sure she's okay and you go get what we came for?"

Beetle frowned, but nodded. "Alright. Be right back." He went to the skylight and had the suit extrude the equipment he needed to hack the security system.

Meanwhile, Miss Martian walked over to Batgirl and gave her a sullen frown. "You were supposed to be Batman. Or Superman. Or any member of the League." She heaved a sigh, then brightened, bringing her hand up to lightly slap herself on the forehead. "Hello, Megan! If this is Batgirl, she has to have been trained by Batman. She'll probably be just useful as he would have been!"

Humming softly to herself, she levitated the still unconscious Batgirl back toward her waiting, cloaked ship.

TT^TT^TT

**A/N**: And so it begins. As promised, this fic will include TT versions of Miss Martian, Blue Beetle and Batgirl IV. M'gnn's characterization is drawn from the Young Justice series and reworked for her role in this story. Blue Beetle's character is an amalgam of his comic persona, his appearances on Batman: The Brave and the Bold, and his voice actor from that series, Will Fredle's other voice roles, namely Terry from Batman Beyond and Ron Stoppable. Finally, Batgirl IV, Cassie Cain, hasn't had any animated appearances where she actually did anything, so she's mostly based on her early comics and my impressions of the Bat-clan in the TT universe.

Now on to the next chapter, published back to back as a bonus!


	2. Frank Talks

**Disclaimer:** This is a fan work created at no profit and for entertainment purposes only. The author acknowledges that Teen Titans and related characters are property of Warner Entertainment.

**Teen Titans: Menace in Mexico City**

**Chapter 1 – Frank Talks**

Jump City California was a beautiful town, home to sun, various tourist attractions, fine dining, and the occasional supervillain attack.

That last one wasn't as big a damper on tourism and quality of life as would be expected, because when there was trouble, the people of Jump City knew who to call: the Teen Titans. And from their tower, on a lone island in the middle of Jump Bay, they could see it all.

Or at least they could normally. On this particular afternoon, the windows that looked out over the city from ops were covered in tarps. That wasn't the only sign that the tower had recently sustained trauma. Great holes were torn in the face of the building, now surrounded by scaffolding, and a fence had been erected around a pile of rubble beneath the largest of those holes. Oddly, the fence seemed less to keep people out and more as a place to hang the dozens of pine tree air fresheners situated around the debris, which on close inspection was ninety percent dirty laundry, old pizza boxes and oversized tofu cartons.

All of it was testament to the team's defeat of a foe that had plagued them for almost an entire month, culminating in a fight that would be the talk of Jump for weeks to come.

And for some residents, it was also still the talk of the tower.

In the Titans' garage, Cyborg pried open the top of a large, wooden crate with a crowbar and stared down into it with an expression normally reserved for new fathers. He was, of course, looking at the newly arrived engine block for the T-car.

"Finally! Man, I thought this would never get here. But just look at it; so shiny and new and beautiful... it's almost worth the heartache I went through."

From the workbench, where she was reading a book while waiting out his cooing over all the new parts, Raven raised an eyebrow. "Finally? It's been two days. The only what they could have got here faster would have been teleportation."

"Yeah, but you said 'no'." Cyborg sniffed before breaking down the rest of the crate. He busied himself hooking the block to a pulley and chain system in the ceiling and lifted it out of the crate and over to the waiting, newly rebuilt T-car.

The brave vehicle had been disfigured and then destroyed in their recent battle. Luckily, that had happened so often by now that Cyborg kept enough replacement parts on hand to nearly build a second.

"So..." He said, halfway to his destination. "How are things?"

Raven glanced up at him. "Things?"

Cyborg gave her a sly grin. "Girl, you know what 'things' I'm talkin' about."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Raven hid her expression behind her book.

"Don't think you can play with me like that, Rae. My two best friends got together, so I've got a right to know how it's going."

"You really don't." Raven pointed out, only to catch his glare. Despite having only one human eye, he was good at giving glares, almost as good as Raven herself. "Fine. But you realize it's only been two days, right?"

"Just keeping tabs." Replied Cyborg. "So. Have ya'll gone out yet?"

"Two days." Raven replied.

"Kissed again?"

"Two. Days."

"Any kind of PDA at all?"

One of his many toolboxes, situated on the workbench beside Raven, was overshadowed by her soul-self and started to shake violently.

Cyborg stopped pushing the engine block and held up his hands defensively. "Alright, I get it. Two days is too short a time to ask for a status report. Sheesh. I just figured B would insist on you two at least trying something relationship-y by now."

Raven rolled her eyes. "Of course he has. It's all he's talked about or thought about since this... _this_ started. He's been getting so many bright ideas and trying to make so many plans that he hasn't had time to actually do anything."

"And you couldn't be happier with that, could ya." Cyborg chuckled as he lowered the engine into the waiting car.

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't. We've been spending almost all our time together since then and... I'll admit, I like that. But actual dating? Going out to a restaurant or to the pier like her wants? I don't think I'm ready." Raven kept the book up even though she wasn't reading it anymore.

Cyborg could tell there was more on the tip of her tongue and so kept working in silence.

Sure enough, Raven could be counted on to fill her own silences given time. "We watched a movie last night. That was nice. Why can't we just keep doing that?"

"Did he turn into a kitten and jump in your lap?" A mischievous grin split Cyborg's face. He caught the expected screwdriver hurled at him with black magic and snickered. "Sorry, couldn't resist. Anyway, there's no reason you can't. B just doesn't know what to do with himself. I mean he's spent the last four years trying and failing to impress you and now that the stakes are even higher, he's getting a little..."

"Overzealous?" Now that the engine was in place, Raven closed her book and slid off the workbench to come help.

"I was gonna go with 'stupid', but there ya go. Just let him know that he doesn't have to do anything big and showy to make you like him and he'll calm down... or try ten times as hard. One or the other."

"Comforting." Raven rolled her eyes again and strolled over to the open hood of the car."

"That's why they call me Love Doctor Cy." he smiled. "So where is green bean anyway? I thought I'd have to work on getting my baby back on her wheels for the trip alone with you two spending so much time together."

Beast Boy was strictly forbidden from being in the garage when anything more complicated than a wash and wax was going on after Cyborg suffered one too many comedic injuries thanks to his interruptions, not to mention a fortune in ruined parts.

"He understands that this is sort of our thing as friends." Raven assured him. "Plus, he's currently occupied with his new playmate."

Cyborg face palmed. "I never thought I'd see the day that Control Freak was getting invites to the tower."

"It could be worse." Raven levitated over a wrench just as Cyborg noticed he's need one.

"How much worse?"

"Gar's not the only one that's gotten to like the geek boy. Starfire's been needling Robin about letting him house sit while we're in Mexico."

"You've gotta be kidding me."

"I wish I was." Raven droned. "And speaking of the trip, please tell me I'm not the only one feeling suspicious."

"You mean suspicious about Robin of all people suggesting we take a vacation?" Cyborg asked and handed the wrench back to her.

Raven took the wrench and used her soul-self to tighten the bolts the rest of the way. "Thank you! It isn't like him, and just between you and me, when he first suggested it, I got this feeling form him; like he thought he was being very clever about something."

"You mean Rob doesn't feel that way all the time?" Cyborg chuckled. "So what do you think's really going down?"

"No idea. Mexico is having trouble with their drug cartels, but Mexico City's been left largely untouched by that." said Raven. "Maybe it's another of his Slade leads and he doesn't want us to know he's chasing it. Whatever it is, I don't suggest packing for nothing but fun and relaxation."

TT^TT^TT

**AN:** Guess who's back? That's right, the sequel to What Grows in Deception starts right here. I'll be updating slower on this one, I'm afraid, but hopefully, this will be a shorter story over all. Hopefully, this works without WGiD, so people don't need to read it first, but I recommend reading it anyway.

As always, if you like my style, you can check out my original, ongoing series The Descendants via the link in my profile.

Next Chapter: What's Robin's real reason for the trip, and what are Beast Boy's thoughts on his two day relationship with Raven?


	3. Ulterior Motives

**Disclaimer:** This is a fan work created at no profit and for entertainment purposes only. The author acknowledges that Teen Titans and related characters are property of Warner Entertainment.

**Teen Titans: Menace in Mexico City**

**Chapter 2 – Ulterior Motives  
**

Two animated avatars did battle in the yawning central chamber of a massive star ship dry dock With swords of light and the underlying force that bound the universe together as their chosen weapons, they clashed and span in a deadly dance of war.

Their sward crackled as the pair met again and pushed off, each driving their opponent back a long stride. One, dressed in a long, brown robe, reached behind him and gestured. A piece of vast machinery of unknown purpose tore free of its mooring and went flying toward his green robed opponent, who scrambled to drop to the ground and escape being smashed.

"Duuuuude!"

Beast Boy and Control Freak were on the Titans' familiar, circular couch with a huge bowl of chips and an equally huge bowl of salsa between them. The former looked on helplessly as the latter's on screen avatar sent yet another massive block of metal his way.

"How are you doing that?"

Freak laughed with a malevolence reminiscent of his villainous days (which technically meant the previous week). "It I told you, young padawan, you would use it against me."

"You suck." Beast Boy pouted, making his character jump over the last attack and charge toward Freak's.

"Then how come I'm winning" Freak's avatar pirouetted out of the way and soon the two were crossing their swords again. He took advantage of Beast Boy's frustration to feint him, leaving an opening that he exploited with a flurry of sword swipes, shaving off a healthy percentage of the changeling's hit points.

Beast Boy fumed. The game seemed real cool and all, especially one based on one of his favorite franchises, but all the moves actually required skill and timing instead of being friendly to his button mashing ways.

"I meant as a person." He grumbled as one sidestep and thrust capped off his fifteenth consecutive loss. He glared at his new friend (who at the moment was still a jerk in his mind, just like Cyborg was a jerk when they played racing games). "And ya know, it's pretty tacky to wear that thing all the time."

He was pointing at the medal hanging from the pudgy geek's neck.

The day before, the mayor of Jump City held a ceremony to thank the Titans for capturing Aionor and Malchior. Robin tried to argue that most of the attack had been directed at the Titans themselves, but the mayor's mind was on the good publicity the city was getting from footage of _their_ heroes defeating a real, live dragon and he was not going to miss riding that wave to tourist dollars and election PR.

It was Starfire and Beast Boy who insisted that Robin give credit where credit as due and tell the mayor about Control Freak's part in helping them save the day. Thought reluctant, the mayor was eventually swayed to give the fanboy a medal by the idea of what a great Movie of the Week his reform would make (They were still counting the advertising revenue from Jinx's heel-face turn).

They were right too. Both Barbara Walters and Katie Couric were already calling for interviews. Freak was holding out for Oprah. And he hadn't taken off the medal since.

"Hey, you've got a whole closet full of medals. I've only got the one." Freak said defensively.

"It's not a closet." Beast Boy said defensively. "It's a trophy case. Rob makes us keep all out medals, keys to the city and discount cards from local shops in there."

"You get discounts?"

"Oh yeah, lots of places; the wedge shaped pizza place, Cook's electronics, the video store..." Beast Boy shrugged.

Freak perked up ."Can I borrow that one from Cook's? Because you guys thrashed my place and I have to replace a bunch of stuff."

A sly grin came to Beast Boy's face. "Only if you show me how to do that 'throwing things with your brain' move."

"That's so not fair. It's you guys' fault my place got smashed up in the first place!"

Knowing he now had the upper hand, Beast Boy casually picked up a chip and loaded it with salsa, contemplating it as if it were a momentous decision. "Not my fault, dude. That was all Rae."

Freak saw his chance as Beast Boy crammed the chip in his mouth. "Speaking of which, how's _that_ going?" He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Hrk!" Beast Boy choked on the chip and went into a coughing fit. It took a minute for him to get his breath back and glare at Control Freak. "Dude, do NOT do that eyebrow thing when talking about my girlfriend. It's creepy."

"Sorry, couldn't resist." Freak laughed. "But seriously, how's it going?"

"Great! We've been hanging out a lot more and last night, we watched a movie together..." Beast Boy slumped a little. "But, the thing is, what if she gets bored with that stuff? I mean, I'm totally happy with just that, but this is Rae; she deserves a totally awesome boyfriend. Except I don't know how to _be_ a totally awesome boyfriend."

"Don't look at me, " Control Freak shrugged, fiddling with his controller, "My old girlfriend turned out to be an evil mastermind using me to kill you guys... or torture Raven... or something, I wasn't really clear on that."

"Yeah, that was complicated." Beast Boy agreed.

"Hey, but you guys are going on that trip in a few days." Freak offered, "And there's probably all sorts of awesome romantic stuff to do in Mexico."

"You're right!" Beast Boy perked up, "Like going to Niagara Falls, or the Eiffel Tower."

Freak stared at him blankly. "Um... maybe you should download one of those tour guide apps when you get there."

TT^TT^^TT

"Robin?" Starfire knocked timidly on the open door to the Boy Wonder's room.

Said Boy Wonder was carefully folding shirts and placing them in his suitcase. The trip was still two days away, but he was determined to be ready to go far ahead of time. "Hey, Star." He smiled at her, "What's on your mind?"

Star floated into the room, rubbing her arm in a girlish display of nerves. "I do not know how to ask this question, so I shall simply ask: Robin, why are we going to the Mexico?"

He blinked. "What's wrong? I thought you wanted to go. You were excited yesterday."

"Indeed. And I am still excited, but I have been doing the thinking and what I do not understand if why you are so eager to go. You do not like the vacations, or leaving our city unprotected, and yet with this trip, you were very quick to make the arrangements and have even made Friend Cyborg rush in making holo-rings for myself, Beast Boy and Raven. Please: tell me why this is."

Robin sighed and sat the shirt he'd been folding aside. "I guess you wouldn't accept it if I said that what happened in Tokyo changed my mind about the whole 'heroes don't take vacations' thing."

She shook her head. "No. I will not accept a lie. You are not so easily swayed in the brand of oatmeal you eat, much less something like this."

That had been a week before and Robin was still mildly rankled by Cyborg's faux pas during his turn doing the shopping. So what if the new brand cost less and had more servings per box? That was a decision that needed to be discussed as a group, damn it! Plus, this kind didn't have those little dehydrated strawberries he loved so very, very much.

"You're right, Star." He hung his head. "It's a lot of things. First, I _have_ learned more about being a good leader over the years. I know I was wrong now not to have given you all a break after emotionally draining battles, like the Terra situation or when Trigon came. It hurt the team and I don't want that to happen again, so after this one, the four of you are getting the time you need to recover."

Star's luminous, green eyes met his. "The four of us... but what of you, Robin? Will you not be doing the vacationing with us?"

He couldn't lie to her. No matte how much he wanted to. "I... will. But you're right; there is a reason I was especially willing to go to Mexico: The night Malchior attacked, I got a call..." He stared down at the suitcase and clothes covering his bed. "from Batman."

A gasp escaped Starfire and she brought her hands up to cover her mouth. "Your mentor? But you said that the two of you do not get along. Why would he suddenly call?"

Robin set his jaw against the memory. "As much as it pained him, he needed my help. Someone's been stealing tech goods in Mexico that got his attention. He sent Batgirl to investigate-" He noticed a glare from the princess at this. She didn't know anything for sure, but Star instinctively disliked the idea that he'd spent time fighting crime side by side with another woman, no matter how far in the past,

"A... different Batgirl." He amended, mollifying her. "The problem is, she hasn't check in for days."

Starfire nodded, relieved that it wasn't something she'd feared, like a lead on Slade's whereabouts, or some other obsession. "And he has asked you to find her. Wonderful! We shall aid you and then both you and the new Batgirl who you do not have the 'history' with can all enjoy our vacation together."

"Whoa, wait a minute, Star." Robin rounded the bed and placed his hands on her shoulders in an effort to calm her exuberance.

Confusion entered her eyes, along with a measure of hurt. "You... do not wish to have our help?"

"Please don't take it like that." He said softly. "But what I said earlier is true: you and the others need some time to recover after what's happened. It's my responsibility to make sure of that. This shouldn't be a mission where I need any help at all anyway." He hung his head, feeling guilty and shamed for the final reason. "And... well Batman wouldn't be very happy with the Titans getting involved in Bat-family business."

To his surprise, Starfire offered him a warm, understanding smile. "And though you have your differences, you no more with to disappoint your mentor than I do Galfore."

As much as it galled him, she'd read him perfectly. He had his reasons from breaking from his role as Batman's protege, but none of them had anything to do with losing respect for the man, nor had they dissolved the familial bond between them.

"You're right Star." He admitted.

She hugged him gently. "Then I understand. But I still wish to help. Is there really no way?"

He cocked his head in thought. "Actually, yes. I need help hiding this from the others. You know that they won't be as understanding as you about this sort of thing."

Excitement lit the princess's eyes and she floated in spite of herself. "I do! And I have a very good cover in mind as well. We shall go on many of the dates while on vacation. And some of those will in truth be your time to accomplish your mission!"

Robin smiled. It was exactly what he had in mind. "That's a great idea, Star!"

She leaned down and kissed him on the cheek. "And of course, many of those dates will be real, yes?"

TT^TT^TT

**A/N:** And there you have it. The plot is all laid out. For a start at least. If you remember WGID, you'll know that nothing is as simple is it starts out looking. Feel free to guess where this is going in reviews and we'll see how close anyone comes to my plans. I remember someone guessing from the outset of WGID that Aionor was a descendant of Rorek, for example.

Next Chapter: Everyone gets ready for the trip and Control Freak gets asked a favor.


	4. Ring, Do Your Thing

**Disclaimer:** This is a fan work created at no profit and for entertainment purposes only. The author acknowledges that Teen Titans and related characters are property of Warner Entertainment.

**Teen Titans: Menace in Mexico City**

**Chapter 3 – Ring, Do Your Thing**

The sliding doors to ops whooshed open and Cyborg strode in, beaming with pride with a sturdy metal in plastic case in his hands that shared his signature blue and white color scheme.

His smile slipped a little at the sight before him.

Robin was leaning on the counter watching Starfire as she worked on lunch. He watched her intently, not just in the sense of a boyfriend mooning over his girlfriend, but as part of his duty to the team: ensuring that Star maintained her self control following the book of earthly recopies she'd purchased a few weeks back. Though she desperately wanted to make food that was palatable to her friends, she had a hard time keeping herself from seasoning her dishes to suit her alien taste buds.

Beyond them, Beast Boy and Raven shared the couch. He was watching a cable show about the varied and terrifying sea life that haunted the worlds' rivers as long term research for a prank he wanted to play on Aqualad. She was reading as usual. But the key point to the whole scene was that they were sitting as close to each other as their mutual shyness would allow and occasionally steeling glances.

"What a revoltin' development." He muttered to himself. Not that he wasn't happy for his friends, and god knows it was about time both of those relationships advanced in his opinion. But there was a matter of guy pride on the line.

He was older, taller, stronger, smarter, and dammit, handsomer than those two. That wasn't just narcissism; he had the fan polls to prove it. In his room. Framed. Robin might have rated as cooler and Beast Boy as most adorable (he tied Cyborg for funniest), but it was Cyborg that swept the important categories.

So why the hell were those two getting to spend time with their girlfriends while he was spending time with his programming core and rapid fabrication assemblage?

Bad luck if you asked him. Jinx had been a villainess and long after that ship had sailed, she hooked up with Kid Flash. He and Bumblebee were both too strong willed to be a good match. Sarasim was... well... dead for several centuries. Combine that with Robin's 'no answering romantic fanmail' rule and his was a dry spell that would make the Sahara blush.

He would have found himself in a bad mood, but then he remembered he was coming up on a ten day, eleven night trip to a foreign land and he wasn't going to Teen Titan, Cyborg, but as good ol' Victor Stone; the highly intelligent, extra handsome and immensely ripped young man that all the ladies loved.

And just like that, his enthusiasm came back with a vengeance. "Alright y'all!" He bellowed in all his bombastic glory as he carried the case over to the kitchen table. "Presenting Mr. Cyborg's Fall Collection."

The digital locks on the case disengaged and the top of the case swung open on whisper bearings, revealing five pairs of rings resting in molded velvet recesses. "The holoring Mark II. Personally tailored for each of us to generate the perfect illusion of nominal, everyday teenagers."

He picked up his pair; done up in white gold with blue stones set into them. "These babies are waterproof for those days by the pool, heat proof enough to survive starbolts or the occasional chromium induced sneeze, and can withstand seventy-five thousand pounds per square inch—for anything else you maniacs do to 'em."

As he continued to gloat, a green streak blew past the box, resolving quickly into a coati with four rings stuck on its comically long nose. The green animal scampered back to the couch where it turned back into Beast Boy. The green Teen then handed Raven her pair and slipped his own on.

"Sweet! I always wanted a class ring. But you kinda have to go to high school for that."

"Delightful!" Starfire abandoned whatever she was in the process of mixing in a bowl to float over to the box and pick up her own rings. "In Tamaran, all jewelry is either functional or ceremonial. Please. How do you make these rings work?"

"Glad you asked." said Cyborg, who had clearly been waiting for that moment. With a grunt that was more theatrical than having anything to do with effort, he brought the rings together in front his him so that the minute grooves in the stones interlocked. A bright flash emanated from them and traveled up each arm. Where it went, white and gray surfaces and blue lighting arrays were replaced by a mahogany skin tone that matched Cyborg's exposed human parts. Within seconds, he was transformed from a man-machine into just a man; the same form he took when undercover as Stone at Hive Academy. Just as that time, he'd had the wherewithal to design the default image to project some boxers and a white t-shirt as well.

Starfire clapped. "You are, as you put it 'that new, unimproved you' now! And these rings will make us look like you as well?"

Everyone paused to shudder at the mental image of Starfire sporting Vic's shaven-head look.

"Not exactly, Star. I designed each ring to map a specific skin tone, eye color and hair color to each of us to give us a unique look that won't conflict with how were normally dress and act. Just give 'em a try and you'll see what I'm talking about."

Starfire, Raven and Beast Boy complied, bringing their rings together to start the transformation.

Beast Boy ran over the check himself out in the brushed metal door to the stairwell. "Dude! I totally looks like I did in my baby pictures!" He was staring at a lightly tanned kid with a copious spray of freckles across his nose and yellow-blonde hair. The ring had also rounded out his ears and made his normally expose fang disappear.

"Um... yeah, I was able to use the pictures you have in your room to base yours off of..."

Not noticing how distracted and borderline terrified Cyborg sounded, Beast Boy tentatively poked his ears. They might _look_ round, but they still felt pointed. "This is so cool! I can't wait to see what you did for Ra...ven." At the moment, he turned around and wasn't quite sure what he was seeing.

Only he knew the dark girl's expressions well enough to tell that see was confused instead of her normally projected null emotional state.

And 'dark girl' now had a whole new meaning. The holoring had overlaid her normally ashen skin and purple locks with a cinnamon tan and hair crimson hair that could have only come out of a bottle (or a hologram projector) with black roots. She held a red strand of hair in front of her face and blinked now chocolate brown eyes at the others.

"Um. I think Beast Boy mixed up the rings."

"Do you believe so?" Starfire looked at herself in the microwave's window and saw nothing wrong with her now jet-black hair and chalky skin, though she did poke curiously at the holograms of two eyebrow piercings and a nose stud.

Raven let the hair drop. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure."

"Just remember that this is the grass stain's fault not mine." Cyborg reminded.

"What is your fault?" Asked Starfire, still admiring herself.

"You don't really think that look is 'you'," Robin asked, mildly incredulous until he remembered who he was talking to and grew unsure of himself. "Do you?"

Star turned away from her reflected countenance and gave him a self conscious look. "You do not find me attractive like this?"

The other three in the room smirked at one another. These moments were always fun.

Sadly for them, Robin had known what he said wrong the moment he said it and was ready with a reply. "Of course you do, Star. You always look amazing now matter what you're wearing."

"More like 'who' you're wearing." Raven mumbled, making Beast Boy chuckle.

Unfortunately for her, this got Starfire's attention. "Xhal! Friend Raven, you look amazing!" She flew over immediately and embraced her friend in one of her crushing hugs. "Oh, this shall be the best vacation we have ever embarked upon! And that is not just because this is our first."

Meanwhile, Robin picked up the last pair of rings in the case and slipped them on his gloved fingers. "Just by process of elimination, I guess these are mine."

Cyborg rolled his eyes. "As if you need them."

"These aren't just to hide our natures." Robin admonished. "They're to hide our identities, both so that we can get some privacy, and to make sure our presence doesn't provoke any attacks on the populace."

"I get that, man, but if you'd just take off the dumb mask, nobody would know you anyway. Papa Bats might have a famous alter ego, but nobody's gonna pick you out of a line-up."

"Better safe than sorry." Robins' voice gained an edge due to the 'Papa Bats' comment. With that, he fitted the rings together and... not much happened. His skin got a shade or two darker, comprising an incredibly light tan and his hair went from the kind of black that looks almost blue in the right light to just plain old black.

"Sixteen hours of R&D and construction and you use it as make-up." Cyborg groused.

By now, Starfire had abandoned Raven to come look at Robin's change. She, if anything, was more disappointed than Cyborg. "Oh, Robin. I was so hoping that you would be doing the different look as the rest of us are."

"But I am different." Robin insisted, pulling the mask away from his face to reveal slightly canted eyes, lower, less defined cheekbones, and a slightly longer nose. "No facial recognition software in the world would be able to identify me now."

"He's totally not into the spirit of this whole thing, Star." Cyborg explained.

Over by the couch, Beast Boy has wandered back over to Raven's side, unable to tear his eyes off her for more than a moment. Sure, he loved her normal look; gray and purple having become two of his favorite colors. But there was something new and novel about Tropical Edition Raven that appealed to him too.

"So..." he rubbed the back of his head. "Since Star seems to like rocking the goth look, I guess you're stuck with 'Latin goddess'?" Did he really just say 'goddess'? He wanted to slap himself for that.

Raven gave him a sidelong look. Did he really just call her a goddess? She fought back a blush and her soul-self grabbed a couch cushion and hurled it across the room thanks to the excess emotion. Far less destructive than last time he paid her a complement. She was getting better at controlling this.

"Um... thanks. And I guess so." She kept her eyes focused on the others as Cyborg continued to prod Robin about his lack of originality. As if the protege of a man who themed everything after his chest symbol would be known for his creativity. "Do you... like it."

Now Beat Boy decided to look away, fixing his gaze on the newly reinstalled windows that allowed them to look out on the city from ops. "Not as good as the original, but I'm totally okay with it. Do you like mine?"

She glanced at him. "So that's what you would look like if it wasn't your powers?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"Then I'm 'totally okay with it' too."

TT^TT^TT

**A/N:** Not a lot of plot here, but the holorings needed to be introduced and lent themselves to this cute little mini-story here. I especially liked subverting the normal holo/AU looks they give to the girls in fics. And yes, they'll be like this the entire trip :)

A correction from earlier: Blue Beetle's name is Jaime, not Jamie. I knew this, but I can't type sometimes.

To answer someone's question with a much more complex answer than is needed, the core five Titans here are (hopefully) in their characterizations from the show (Seasons 1-4 in particular) because this whole thing is a writing exercise for me to keep them in character. This fic adds the twist that I'm trying to now add in three characters from outside the show and trying to integrate them into the TT flavor. So even though I said where I'm drawing my inspiration, I'm trying to make them TT versions of Blue Beetle, Miss Martian and Batgirl IV.

So especially with Cassandra, don't be surprised if she's not spot on with the comics, because she needs to be a translated to the world of Teen Titans (animated).

Last time's Next Chapter tagline turned out to be a big, fat lie, so as penance, there will be none this time.


	5. The Show is on the Road!

**Disclaimer:** This is a fan work created at no profit and for entertainment purposes only. The author acknowledges that Teen Titans and related characters are property of Warner Entertainment.

**Teen Titans: Menace in Mexico City**

**Chapter 4 – The Show is on the Road**

The hum of a generator vied with the sound of picks and shovels as she followed the long, stone ramp downward. Weaker lights lit the way, and not far below, portable flood lights sent up a much brighter glow.

She emerged at the end of the ramp; dark hair tied back in a ponytail stuck through a baseball cap, light, white cotton blouse and khaki shorts. Her skin, already deeply tan, was even darker from working outside. No one looked up from their work, if they noticed her at all.

The team from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México worked feverishly at the edges of the room, carefully clearing branches and dirt from in front of two of the three doors leading out of the chamber and using ultrasound equipment to map out what was beyond. They conspicuously ignored the one door they'd already cleared, but failed to explore.

The newcomer frowned at their haggard appearances. They hadn't taken a break since she last saw them almost eight hours earlier, and they worked in eerie silence, not even complaining despite looking as if they were going to fall over where they stood.

After a moment, she reached up, touched her hand to her forehead, and her eyes glowed green.

_Go home._ She told them. _Forget all about this place until you're fed and rested. Then come back to work._

With odd, haunted looked, the archeology students and professors stopped what they were doing and still silent, began to file out.

Once they were gone, the girl's form and clothing changed. Dark skin turned green, khakis swirled up into a blue pleated skirt, and her blouse became a tight shit with two red bands forming an X on her chest. M'gann's hair changed last, blending from brown to red.

For a long moment, she stared up the ramp after the group held in her thrall and sighed. Then she took to the air and flew down the hall beyond the open door.

There was another chamber there, and two doors splitting off from it, but she paid them no mind. Instead, she made a small effort of telekinesis to sweep the dust off the floor, revealing one stone that was a slightly lighter shade than the others. It took a considerably larger effort to lift said stone, so much in fact that M'gann was breathing hard by the time it was finally extracted from the hole it was plugging and laid off to the side.

"I really need to learn how to go intangible." she wheezed to herself as she collected herself. Technically, she knew how, just not well enough for it to be reliable. Or safe.

After a few minutes, she remembered that she was expected and took to the air again, lowering herself down the long shaft that stone had been blocking. Down what had to be five stories, she found herself in a room shaped like an egg standing on its end.

Unlike the ancient and overgrown complex above, this one wasn't made of stone, but dull metal, etched with angular lines and polygonal shapes. The closest thing to furniture was a platform in the center whose surface was actually a large, curved lens.

M'gann landed on that, and the room whirred to life. Pulses of blue light began to scurry along the lines and tracing the shapes, a soft vibration began to fill the air. Just like every time she'd been here before, M'gann had to force herself not to bolt and never look back. No matter how fierce a sense of foreboding, there was too much at stake for her to let her fears get the best of her.

The lens beneath her feet flashed once, then emitted a soft, blue light that washed over her. The ansible was active.

"You sent the workers home." A harsh voice snapped at her without warning or greeting. Or possibly, voices; M'gann always felt like she was talking to more than one person who just happened to say the same words at the same time.

"They've worked all day without food or water." she protested.

"They could have worked longer."

She scowled. "Sure, if you want them dead. Then who would open up the other rooms for you without breaking anything? There aren't infinite archeologists on this planet, you know?"

There was a pause as whoever was on the other end considered. "We wish we were certain that this was an act of pragmatism and not compassion."

"Can't it be both? You know I'm right about letting them rest: they'll work better and faster this way." M'gann put her hands on her hips in defiance.

"We prefer that you not grow attached to them. You know what we have in store for this world."

She raised her chin. "And I also know that the choice is between these people and _my_ people. Why are you suddenly so suspicious of me? Haven't I done everything you asked? Ahead of schedule, I might add?" She held up a finger as she made her point, then lowered it. Another gesture she learned from TV. She needed to stop watching cartoons; their gestures just weren't normal for humans.

"And you have also done things we did not ask you too."

"What? Cassandra?" M'gann crossed her arms. "That was an accident. Besides, you told me to get Jaime; I thought rounding out the team would be making the best of the situation."

"We had plans for the Infiltrator. He is an asset. One of the Batman's proteges is a complication. You should eliminate her."

M'gann raise an eyebrow. "You think having her alive is more of a complication than someone finding her body? I don't care how busy Batman is, he'd put all of his attention on us then! Plus, have you ever heard of Oracle? You do _not_ want her attention on us if even half the rumors are true. Please trust me, Cassie is much better for us alive."

Another long pause. "You gave her a nickname?"

Using her shapeshifting to hide her embarrassed blush, she stood firm. "Appearing friendly with them makes it easier to maintain control. If it makes you feel any better, I can have her send fake reports to Batman."

"No." the voice said quickly. "No communications. We cannot risk exposing anything. This country is large, even if the Batman chooses to search for the girl, it will take weeks. And by then, it will be too late."

Unable to hold back a sigh of relief, M'gann relaxed a little. "So you agree, right? I'm being pragmatic."

"It is true that your actions seem to be maximizing our chances of achieving our goals." The voice conceded. "But we know of your kind; capricious and backbiting. There is a reason they are not well loved. You will continue to report each day on your progress. And you will make certain that the rest of the complex is in working order when the time comes."

M'gann nodded. "As long as you keep up your part of the deal, you don't have to worry about me."

TT^TT^TT

"And make sure to run the IDs of everyone on those construction teams before you let them on the island! For god's sake, we don't need nobody messin' with the tower again." Cyborg said.

"And do not forget my list!" Starfire added. Unable to contain her excitement, her feet hadn't touched the ground since she got up that morning.

"Whatever you do: don't go in my room." Raven added with a threatening edge in her voice.

"Or anywhere with a security lock." Robin admonished. "Even if it's an emergency. Especially if its an emergency."

"Oh, and don't beat any of our high scores on the game station." Beast Boy added. "That's our console. You wanna record high scores, you bring your own over."

"Oh yeah, and no illegal downloading." Cyborg said one more. "Especially not crazy alternate reality shows you find with that remote of yours." He paused to think, "Unless you can get a recording of the Tournament of Heroines."

Control Freak listened with heavy lidded eyes and ever decreasing ability to care. How did Star rope him into house sitting again?

"And please, do not forget to feed Silkie! My little bumgorf requires regular nourishment and if he does not get it regularly, he will begin to devour the furniture." The alien princess unconsciously fluttered her lashes and Control Freak swore he saw sparkles. Even looking like the Queen of the Damned thanks to her holoring, there is a sweet innocence that couldn't be denied, even when begging someone to feed the giant worm she kept as a pet.

Yeah, that'd be how he was saddled with the job. All he could do was nod as the Titans piled more and more caveats on him as they stood in the garage, ready to depart.

Finally, everyone ran out of things to tell Control Freak to do and Cyborg got the show on the road. "All right ya'll, the tower's in... mostly neutral hands, the route's programmed into the GPS, and we are just in time to hit optimal road trip traffic—Pile in!"

He hopped in the T-car, which had been painted pure white so as not to announce to the world that the Titans were on the town. The engine purred to life, and... he sat there, waiting for teenaged awkwardness to resolve itself.

Turning around, he saw what the problem was: when going to battles our just down the street, seating arrangements weren't a problem: Cyborg drove, because no one else was going to be allowed to drive his baby, someone called shotgun, and the other three sat in the back.

Now, however, they were going to be in the car for hours at a time on the trip down, and the math was looking bad: two couples, but only room for three people in the back.

Not that anyone was giving voice to that, but Robin, Beast Boy, Starfire and Raven were standing at the back doors awkwardly waiting for someone to relent and take shotgun.

"Aw for cryin' out..." Cyborg muttered. "Yo! We got a rest stop break in two hours. We can rotate then. Now somebody get their butt up front!"

Another tense moment went by as every one of the four glanced at everyone else. Finally Robin groaned. He'd have to be the adult. Again. Any other time, he might have banked on Raven getting fed up and giving in first, but he could tell that she didn't want to hurt Beast Boy and Beast Boy was... whatever the diametric opposite of an adult was.

"Fine. I'll take the front seat first, then Raven, then Beast Boy, then Star." He turned to head for the front passenger door, hiding a smirk. That arrangement gave him and Starfire the most uninterrupted time to sit next to each other.

Being the adult didn't mean he couldn't be petty.

The others agreed and climbed in. Starfire sat behind Robin, easily able to lean over the seat and talk to him. Beast Boy say in the middle, with Raven on the other side.

As Cyborg pulled out of the garage, Starfire pulled out a brochure and leaned over the front seat to plan dates with Robin (both cover and real ones), while Beast Boy glanced over at Raven. It was still very weird seeing her in her tanned and almost sultry holoring form, but that was all a mask and a thin one at that for someone who knew her as well as he did.

Her coloration may have changed, but her expressions didn't, nor did her micro-expressions. Beneath her usual neutral and detached look, he could tell she was looking forward to the trip as well as a little nervous. After all, being n the car, they were, by necessity very close to each other.

Raven had a thing about touching: it had to be on her terms and even then, she had to be in a specific state of mind, or her powers might do something unpleasant to wither Beast Boy or the environment. So as much as he wanted to slide closer and close those few inches between them, he didn't. But he hoped she might.

Lost in thought, he didn't notice she was looking back at him until she spoke.

"So..."

"Ah!" Beat Boy jumped and nearly strangled himself with his seat belt. He was met with a raised eyebrow. "Um... sorry. I zoned out a little. You were saying?"

Raven's lips twitched, something close to a smile. He didn't care if it was based on him making a fool of himself, he took it as a win. "I was just thinking; it's a long trip, and you get bored pretty easily even just driving to the supermarket..."

He thought he already knew where this was going. "Don't worry, I'll be quiet and let you read." He pulled out a sleek black device from somewhere behind him. "See? Gamestation Portable Touch."

For a moment, Raven wondered where he'd been carrying it, considering that his uniform had no pockets, but Beast Boy did that sometimes and she learned not to ask how he did anything. "Actually—and I'm not saying there won't be any reading on this trip at all—but I bought the portable DVD player,"

She bought out that device from folded space beneath her cloak, along with a thick boxed set, "And I thought you might want to watch this with me."

Beast Boy read aloud, "Animals of the Prehistoric World? Dude! That's awesome! Put it in!"

This time Raven did smile, albeit a small one and used her powers to comply with his jubilant demands. "Educational for me, monsters and violence for you. Yeah, I think this can work."

"Rae, you're the best girlfriend ever!" Beat Boy beamed.

They were still several inches apart, but as the movie started, he decided that he didn't mind so much as long as they got closer in other ways.

Up front, Cyborg opened his mouth to tease them, only to be silenced by a sharp look from Starfire, who had, until that moment, been smiling brightly at hearing her two friends being cute together. Even with the green of her eyes covered by the holoring, he thought he saw the dangerous glow, so he clammed up.

There would plenty of time for giving Beast Boy a hard time once they were over the border.

TT^TT^TT

**A/N:** Hey all, I'm not dead, just had a terrible few months. Good thing I warned you this was going to update slower, huh?

This chapter was mostly designed to give M'gann some clear direction and since some people weren't sure she was one of the bad guys, show her with her Dark Masters. No prize for guessing who it is, because that whole scene was just full of tells.

This installment is going to be more of an ensemble piece than WGID. That served the purposed of getting BB and Rae together, this one will let their relationship establish, but won't be centered on it, focusing more on the whole team as friends and on M'gann's team as MC'd friends. Hopefully, everyone will get some character development out of the deal.

Because it's been a while, I'd like to once again plug my original superhero series The Descendants, linked from my profile. If you've enjoyed my writing here, I'm sure you'll enjoy it there too.

Next Chapter: M'gann talks to her team and Beast Boy and Robin discover the Rest Stop of Horrors.


	6. Rest Stop

**Disclaimer:** This is a fan work created at no profit and for entertainment purposes only. The author acknowledges that Teen Titans and related characters are property of Warner Entertainment.

**Teen Titans: Menace in Mexico City**

**Chapter 5 – Rest Stop**

The disguised T-car pulled into the nearly deserted parking space of a rest stop just an hour north of the Mexican border at fifteen minutes past noon. It hadn't even come to the complete stop before the back doors were flung open and two of the occupants took off as fast as their legs could take them for the bathrooms.

Cyborg rolled the window down and laughed heartily as he watched them disappear into the building with tears streaming from their eyes.

Raven glared at him from the passenger seat. The look was in no way diminished by her less pale and severe holographic appearance. "A soda drinking contest? Really?"

"Heh-heh." Cyborg shook his head. "Relax Rae: it's not a road trip without pranks."

"Indeed." Starfire leaned forward from the back seat, smiling her usual sweet, placid smile. In her present appearance, she qualified for 'perky goth' status. "Friend Beast Boy says this often."

Raven folded her arms. "He also says it isn't a Columbus Day, Arbor Day, or Tuesday without pranks.

"And this time it backfired on him." Cyborg said with pride.

Rolling her eyes, Raven gave him a sidelong look. "What I can't believe is that Robin forgot that eighty percent of what you drink is processed into coolant. What do you think he's going to do to you once her remembers?"

"Aw, it's just good, clean fun." said Cyborg. "He'll understand... until he gets to the bathroom."

Starfire frowned, one thin eyebrow raising. She knew just how zany the boys' pranks could get and didn't like the idea of something especially terrible being done to Robin while he was already stressed about the Batgirl situation. Her eyes glowed subtly. "Please: what is it that you have done to Robin and Beast Boy?"

No noticing the dangerous glow of nascent Tamaranian anger, Cyborg brought up a website on his arm console. "Oh nothin': just filled 'em to bursting with soda and sent them into the only rest stop in the state to earn a negative rating in the bathroom cleanliness category on ."

He held up the screen so the girls could read it. In no time, their expressions matched those they'd worn when the group first watched Wicked Scary.

"I'm part demon." Raven said at length, "And I'm not sure I could be as evil as you if I tried."

"Yep. I'm the greatest." Cyborg's grin only grew.

Starfire, however, had gone down to read some of the comments as well. "The smell of 'corn chips mixed with cow manure and burning sulfur... it is unpleasant, yes?"

Robin and Beast Boy reached the door to the men's room at the same time, got temporarily wedged in the frame together, then forced their way in. The door slung closed behind them. Precisely two seconds later, it was nearly pulled off its hinges as the pair ran screaming back into the lobby.

"Gah!" Beast Boy scrubbed at his tongue with his hands. "I breathed in through my mouth! I breathed in through my mouth!"

Slumped stoically against the wall with his arm thrown over his nose and mouth, Robin produced a tin of mints with his free hand, coughing on the fetid stench that whole time.

Beast Boy poured the entire tin of mints into his mouth, chewed vigorously and spat them out before collapsing on his hands and knees. "Thanks, dude. That was so nasty. Did you see that place? It was like Plasmus got into our fridge after the Tamaranian Feast of Mobile Cuisine."

Behind his glasses, Robin's eyes narrowed. "That's no ordinary smell and no ordinary mess. That's some sort of entity."

"Nah, I've pulled worse from my shower drain." said Beast Boy. "Smaller, but worse." He caught that horrified look on Robins' face. "Hello? Covered with fur here?"

Robin shivered once, then looked away. "Whatever. What are we going to do about this?"

"Dude, I gotta go way too bad to do any planning." said Beast Boy, "Just hand me a rebreather and I'll take my chances."

Starting to reach into his pocket, Robin paused. "How did you know I had a rebreather?"

"Because you're you, duh." Beast Boy rolled his eyes. "Actually, I'm kind of surprised you don't have some kind of bat-doohicky to clean up the bathroom."

The red heat of embarrassment crept up the back of Robin's neck, though he couldn't tell if it was because Beast Boy was right, or because he'd forgotten. "Well actually..."

Beast Boy grinned broadly like a five year old who just learned a juicy secret. "Dude, I was right? That is so cool—you really _are_ prepared for anything. So what's taking so long? Do your utility belt thing and let's get this over with."

"Keep it down." Robin slapped a hand over the other young man's mouth. "This is supposed to be a vacation, so I don't want the others to know, alright?" Beast Boy looked at him askance over the hand covering his word hole. It itched at Robin to lie about the real reason he'd gone on vacation packing an arsenal, especially given how often the same lies had been used on him in his life, but Robin soldiers on for the good of his team. After all, Beast Boy was one of the main reasons he was giving the others a vacation.

"Because you know how they'll get. Star will be hurt because she thinks I plan to hunt criminals instead of spending time with her, Raven will psycho-analyze me, and Cyborg will never, ever let me live it down." At this, Beast Boy nodded.

"Good." Robin said, removing his hand and reaching into a hidden compartment behind his civilian belt. The device was a glass bird-a-rang containing chemical compounds segregated in different cells. "I started formulating this after our last fight with Plasmus. It's an aggressive cocktail of disinfectants, deodorizers, and a rare oil from Central Asia that unbinds fatty molecules from plastics, reducing lingering odors."

"So it's like an anti-stink bomb." said Beast Boy.

Robin chose to ignore that. "The initial by products are... pretty hazardous right now, but they'll clear in approximately fifty seconds. Can you hold it that long?"

"...I'm not making any promises, but I'll try."

"...A simple yes would have sufficed. Just something to keep in mind for the future." Robin said, stepping bravely back to the door of the men's room. "Stand back. I'm opening the door."

TT^TT^TT

Some minutes later, the two were washing their hands in a newly pristine rest room that smelled only of mild disinfectant and something slightly burnt.

"So..." Beast Boy said, his eyes on his hands, "I never said thanks. So... thanks."

"No need. I needed to go too. Stupid soda drinking contest..." Robin glared into the mirror.

Beast Boy shook his head. "No, I meant this—the vacation thing. It... well it means a lot, ya know?"

"We all had a hard time with the Aionor debacle. All of you deserve some time off after that—especially you and Raven." Robin finished washing his hands and punched the button on the hand drier. It didn't work.

While Robin pounded the button again, then began to inspect the machine for deficiencies, Beast Boy went into a stall and came back with some wads of toilet paper, handing one over to the team leader. "Yeah, but it's not just that. It's just... well, going on a road trip? Planning all the touristy stuff? It feel's... normal."

"Hmm?" asked Robin, raising an eyebrow.

As he dried them, he examined his holographically pink hands. "Come on, Rob. You're probably the only one that really gets it. Vic started out normal, Star was normal for Tammaran. I guess Rae might get the not normal part, but it's not the same as with you and me: we grew up being heroes. Neither of us really got a chance just being dumb kids: we always had to save the day so everyone else got to be dumb kids, you know?"

"I... never really thought about it like that." Robin admitted.

Beast Boy smiled at him and tried to shoot his paper into the trashcan, missing poorly. As he went to retrieve it, he shrugged. "Yeah, well maybe this vacation'll help you finally get to be a dumb kid too, huh?" With one last grin, he headed out.

For a moment, Robin was alone with his thoughts. He really hadn't thought of it that way, nor had he considered how Beast Boy, of all the Titans, was the one who best understood where he'd come from. It was a puzzle that even the Riddler would have had to admire how they each turned out the way they did.

It made him even more bound and determined to make the vacation stress free for his team.

TT^TT^TT

"How delightful! Honey and mustard and pretzels all in one small package!" Starfire exalted in her find at the rest stop's snack bar as she and Cyborg headed back to the car after picking up snacks and drinks for the next leg of their trip.

"Just so you don't get disappointed when you open it, that's honey mustard flavoring on pretzels. There's no actual honey or mustard in the bag." said Cyborg. While Star was carrying the chips and other snacks in a cut off cardboard box, he had all the sodas in a cooler arm, a bag slung over his shoulder, and a gigantic hotdog in his free hand.

Starfire's mood only dampened slightly. "Oh. Well I am certain that it is still delicious..."

Cyborg's human eye drooped a bit in sympathy. "Don't worry, girl. I got your back: I snagged a bunch of mustard packets from the hotdog guy." He shook the bag, which was groaning with pilfered condiments, for emphasis.

It took all of Starfire's warrior discipline not to float with joy. "Oh friend Victor, you are the life saver! I was afraid that I would go without delicious tanginess on this trip!" A pale hand deftly reached into the bag and came out with a packet. With a quick look around to make sure no civilians saw her, she put it into her mouth and chewed. "Mmm. Most delicious."

They reached the T-car to find Raven outside, leaning against it while reading her book. "Welcome back." she remarked without looking up.

"Hey there to you, sunshine." Said Cyborg, shoving the rest of his hotdog into his mouth to free up his hand to open the door. "Sad that it was just us and not your boyfriend?" he teased.

"I refuse to dignify that with a response." She said, eyes on her book.

Cyborg placed the cooler on the passenger side floorboard and unslung the bag from his arm. "Ya didn't have to. Don't worry, I'm sure he'll be back. Maybe a little traumatized, but he'll be back."

"Why would I be traumatized?" Cyborg turned to find Robin and Beast Boy just walking up. Beast Boy was wearing a hat made of a thick, corn tortilla that formed a bowl of nacho cheese on top.

The hat finally tore Raven's attention away from her book. "What on Earth are you wearing?"

"Nacho sombrero." Beast Boy said with eyebrows waggling. "How's it sit? Pretty cunning, don't you think?"

Raven stared at him, deadpan. "Be still my beating heart."

"You know you like it." Beast Boy grinned. He reached up, snapped a piece off, and dipped it in the cheese. "Want some?"

Curiosity overriding a new level of ridiculous Beast Boy was now trolling, Raven accepted the piece of nacho sombrero and sniffed it delicately. "Two questions: what happens to the cheese once you've eaten all of the brim, and how does a strict vegetarian justify eating nacho cheese?"

"Trust me," Robin answered for Beast Boy, "The cheese is vegan. Rest stop nacho cheese is barely even _organic_." He looked back at a confused Cyborg. "But why should we be traumatized?"

The mechanical titan rolled his human eye, trying to come up with a plausible lie. "Um... I heard from people inside that the bathroom might be a little groady?" He swallowed nervously, suspecting that the lie wasn't good enough. "Was it?"

Robin shrugged. "Not that I noticed. Beast Boy?"

"Me neither. Maybe they'd just cleaned when we got in there." Beast Boy said through a mouthful of nacho sombrero. Starfire had opened her pretzels and was dipping them in the cheese in the hat's crown.

Cyborg scratched his head. "Oh. Well my mistake then. Ya'll ready to head on then?"

"Yeah." Said Robin, moving to get in the back seat. "Oh, and by the way: nacho hats are expensive, so I have to adjust the travel budget."

"Adjust..." started Cyborg.

"Yeah, not by much though. We'll just have to get Unleaded Plus instead of Premium at the next stop for gas."

The red light in Cyborg's artificial eye dimmed. "Something other than Premium in my baby! Oh no you don't! I'll—"

"Just think of it as a _cleaning fee_." Said Robin, which cut him right off.

TT^TT^TT

**AN:** I'm back, baby! And so is this story! Sorry to the folks looking for my Danny Phantom story, but I did promise to advance Mayhem with my next update.

This might seems slow to people on the outside, but trust me, it has some important bits for the overall story hidden within.

And since it's been a while since I reminded you, if you like my writing, you might enjoy my original superhero fiction, which you can reach by following the link in my profile.

**Next Chapter:** The Titans arrive in Mexico City while M'gnn has a talk with her own 'team' before we reach the first twist in our tale.


	7. How the Other Half Lives

**Disclaimer:** This is a fan work created at no profit and for entertainment purposes only. The author acknowledges that Teen Titans and related characters are property of Warner Entertainment.

**Teen Titans: Menace in Mexico City**

**Chapter 6 – How the Other Half Lives**

There was a thump against the door, followed by a feminine groan and the sound of paper and plastic bags being shuffled. After several seconds of this, the electronic lock beeped and M'gnn stumbled into the hotel room, laden with bags and a cut-off box containing several Styrofoam containers.

"Hi guys, I'm back!"

She was in her human form, all pink skinned and freckled for the benefit of anyone she might run into in the hall. That was also why she was carrying the bags as well. The moment she kicked the door closed, however, she caught up everything with her telekinesis and moved it to the table.

"Ugh. They were extra impossible today. It took me forever to explain what a 'weekend' was and why the archeology students might be missed if they didn't go home for it. It's like they never watched a single Earth program—which makes no sense because they're both informative and entertaining."

As she spoke, she used her powers to empty the bags of groceries. Paper plates, red plastic party cups, plastic utensils, and napkins were all arranged on the little island next to the hotel suite's coffeemaker and microwave. A package of chocolate sandwich cookies were opened and one of the treats floated to her hand.

She regarded it with curiosity. "They say the Martian Manhunter loves these things, so when I saw them, I just had to try them." Following the example of the kids she'd seen in the commercials, she twisted off the top of the cookie and licked the cream off it. "Mmm. Wow, I can see why he likes them. Would you like one?"

No answer. She looked at her two 'roommates'. Cassandra, still in her costume (for M'gnn gleaned very quickly that Bat-clan training ingrained the sanctity of the secret identity so heavily that trying to make her remove the mask nearly broke her mental control) was on the floor behind the couch, doing sit-ups. Jaime, powered down, as on the couch itself, watching a _telenovela_.

It took her a moment to remember that she's told them to 'forget I'm even here' that morning when she left. She wasn't the best at fine-tuning her mental control, however, and so now they weren't even registering her presence. "Hello Megan." She said, smacking herself on the temple. With a small mental effort, she rescinded that order. "Sorry about that. Are you guys hungry?"

Jaime shook his head as he became suddenly aware of her again. There was a moment where his mind recalled that she had a mental chain on him, and almost called upon his scarab to armor up and attack. Those thoughts were quashed by layers of M'gnn's power, however and in less than a second, he 'remembered' that 'Megan' was his friend and he was helping her on a project.

"Starving." He said, gesturing to the television. "Seeing Maya throwing her life away over that deadbeat Manuelo even though she knows he's only with her because he can't be with her famous novelist twin sister has me totally drained. What's for dinner?"

Cassandra stopped her workout routine and sat up long enough to wave off the offer. Then she went right back to it. After all, downtime was a time for keeping one's body in peak performance. Plus, the mouth of her costume was sewn shut—she would have to eat in her room where she could be alone with it off.

M'gnn blushed as she looked over the bounty of containers she'd brought. "Well... are first I thought pizza, because that's a normal food for Earth teenagers hanging out." She moved the Styrofoam boxes aside to pick up a medium pizza box.

"But then I thought to myself that we're in Mexico and we should try authentic Mexican food. There's a place just up the block that the locales say make amazing enchiladas, so I got us these." She picked up two boxes.

"Except then I thought that might paint us as total tourists, so I looked around and found a place that sells Chinese food and got shrimp toast and lo mein." She pointed to the cartons. "Oh! And we also have cookies!" She floated the package of cookies over to her hand and pulled one out for him. "You have to try one, they're great."

Jaime laughed at the Martian's excitement. "Sounds like we're set for food for the rest of the weekend." He accepted the cookie and took a bite before strolling over to a chair. "You know, these would go really good with some milk."

She gave him a blank look. "Milk... isn't that for baby mammals?"

"Um, yeah. But humans drink cow's milk too. Also goat. And rice."

"Rice isn't a mammal." M'gnn pointed out, wondering if she'd done something awful to his brain.

He smirked and finished his cookie before helping himself to a slice of pizza. "Just a joke, MM. See, 'cause some people drink fake milk made of rice or soy beans. That's how much we love our milk: if we can't have it, we fake it."

"I'll remember to get some next time I'm out." M'gnn resolved, dropping into a chair opposite him. "I'm kind of tired now. I have to say, if a bunch of college kids and their professors are this difficult to control, I honestly don't see anyone getting very far with the whole 'enslave humanity' plan."

Jaime gave her a look, chewing carefully. "And... that's a good thing."

M'gnn laughed nervously and grabbed one of the boxes with the enchiladas as cover. "Right. Of course."

That was god enough for Jaime. M'gnn was his friend, after all. "So what's the plan for the weekend. You mentioned the next thing we have to collect won't be across the border until Sunday."

It hadn't actually occurred to her until then. With the students home for the weekend and the next component they needed to steal, M'gnn actually had the next day... off. If that was really how one could characterize a day in which she wouldn't be committing crimes both of the 'civil' and 'against humanity' types.

"I... don't know." she said honestly. "Maybe explore the planet a little. At least this city. Maybe we could hang out like the kids on TV?"

Just asking the question hurt a little. She'd been watching Earth programs all her life and hoping that one day she might get to visit the strange, blue planet with its oceans of liquid water, thick atmosphere and pop music. And she always wanted an Earthling for a friend. Maybe in another life (one where she hadn't laid a powerful dose of mind control on him) Jaime could have been that friend.

"Yeah, sure. We can watch _Corazones del Fuego_ together. I can explain the plot to you." Jaime smiled and took a huge bite of pizza.

M'gnn returned the smile, but it only made her feel worse. She looked down at her food. It looked and smelled delicious, but she had suddenly lost her appetite. "Um... make sure Cassie get something to eat, okay? I think maybe I should go for a walk."

He raised an eyebrow. "You okay, MM?"

A hysterical little laugh bubbled out of her and she waved him off. "Oh of course. I'm just complicit in a plot against your planet, am forcing a bunch of innocent people to work themselves to the bone—oh, and I've completely violated your mind with my powers."

The horns of the Blue Beetle armor started to rise from behind Jaime's back. "Say what?"

"Forget I said anything." she said quickly and made sure both he and Cassandra did just that. That moved her from not being hungry right on through to nauseous. Without another word, she hurried out of the suite.

TT – TT – TT

No AN this time. I just felt I should advance this story to remind people it's not dead.


End file.
